We Own the Night
by HallowFeather136
Summary: Nick's parents have found out his secret. Who does he turn to when they kick him out? Niff One-Shot based on "We Own the Night" by Selena Gomez & the Scene


We Own the Night

Jeff Sterling didn't expect the sight he saw when he opened the door. That's why he was a mess in sweat pants and a Dalton Academy t-shirt. Also, it was so late, and he had been playing his bass with his brothers and Ethan almost all day, so he was exhausted. When he caught sight of his best friend on his doorstep though, his exhaustion immediately faded. Nick was standing on his doorstep, two duffle bags in his hands, his hair a complete mop on his head, and his eyes completely rimmed in red. "Nicky?" Jeff said, concerned, "what's going on?"

"I told them," Nick said, so quietly Jeff barely heard him.

"You told them . . . ?" Jeff trailed off suggestively before the thought of what Nick must be talking about hit him, and he realized what must have happened. "Oh my God, Nick, you told them? How did it go?" Jeff knew it was an extremely stupid question as soon as the words left his lips.

Nick chuckled darkly, "not so great. Can you imagine?"

"Nicky . . ." Jeff opened his arms, and Nick willingly fell into them, dropping his bags on the porch as Nick shook with tears without making a sound. Jeff rubbed his back with his hands, laying his head on top of his best friend's. Jeff could feel his shirt getting soaked with Nick's tears, but couldn't bring himself to care.

"Can I please stay here?" Nick said finally in a defeated voice, "I can't go home."

"Of course you can!" Jeff said quickly, keeping one arm around Nick as he reached down to grab one of his bags. "You can stay as long as you need to. You know my parents love you." Jeff said with a small smile. _They're not the only ones._ He thought to himself.

Nick looked up at Jeff, unshed tears still shining brightly in his eyes. "Thanks, Jeffy," Nick said quietly.

"No problem," Jeff said helping him inside, still smiling softly at his best friend curled up under his arm. "You can stay in my room."

"Are you sure your parents won't mind?" Nick asked.

"Nick, you know perfectly well that they won't. They're not even here anyway. They're with my brother on a trip to Vegas this weekend."

"Well, you should still call them to make sure it's okay." Nick said.

Jeff shook his head at Nick's words, "I'll call them if it'll make you feel better, all right? Now come on, we don't really have anything to eat, but we can go grab something or do whatever you want."

Nick nodded, but didn't speak as Jeff led him inside the house and up to his room.

Jeff dropped Nick's bags at the foot of his bed before turning back to Nick, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Uh, do you want to go get something to eat? Or you know, if you're tired, you can go ahead and go to sleep, and I can go sleep in my brother's room so I won't -"

"No!" Nick said quickly, startling Jeff. "I mean . . . I don't want to be alone," Nick said quietly, looking down at the ground.

Jeff reached over and cupped Nick's face in his hand, forcing him to look up at him. "Hey," he waited until Nick met his eyes before speaking. "It's okay." He told him simply, smiling at him. "So, what do you want to do?" Jeff asked eagerly, moving his hand away from Nick's face again.

Nick smiled a little at his best friend's enthusiasm. "Can we just . . . drive somewhere? I just want to . . . go."

"Sure, Nicky," Jeff said, reaching over to grab his keys, "If I can drive."

Nick let out a little smile that Jeff was happy to see. "Oh God, we're going to die before I even manage to get a boyfriend."

Jeff pretended to look offended. "I'm not _that _bad of a driver."

Nick laughed, "You ran three stop signs in a row!"

"They came out of nowhere!"

"Three stop signs came out of nowhere?" Nick said in disbelief.

"Yes!" Jeff continued to protest.

Nick shook his head. "Fine, but please try not to kill us."

Jeff grinned happily before grabbing Nick's hand and dragging him outside to his car.

"So, where are we going?" Nick asked after Jeff had made several random turns.

"You'll see," Jeff said in a sing song voice.

Nick pouted.

"Don't make that face," Jeff scolded.

"What face?" Nick asked innocently.

Jeff glanced at Nick for a moment and narrowed his eyebrows. "You know exactly what look I'm talking about."

"I don't think I do," Nick said innocently.

Jeff just rolled his eyes.

Nick was silent for a few moments until he spoke again, "So, where are we going again?"

Jeff just laughed.

A few turns later and they pulled into a park. Nick turned and raised his eyebrows at Jeff. "Jeff . . . what's going on?"

"I want to take you somewhere." Jeff said simply, unbuckling his seat belt and climbing out of the car, peeking back in when he noticed Nick hadn't moved. "You coming?" He asked.

Nick nodded, unbuckling his seat and getting out of the car to find Jeff opening the trunk. "What're you doing?"

"Getting a blanket," Jeff replied simply, pulling one out of his car and tossing it to Nick.

"Why are we getting a blanket?" Nick asked.

Jeff sighed as he slammed the door closed. "Why are you asking so many questions?" He said playfully.

Nick blushed a little, "sorry," he mumbled under his breath.

Jeff shook his head, "don't apologize, just come on," Jeff said, taking his hand again, smiling slightly when Nick twisted their fingers together. He led Nick down a small path until they reached a clearing. He took the blanket from Nick's hands and laid it down on the ground, sitting down on one side of it, and laying on his back looking up at the sky. He stared for a few minutes before looking over at Nick and patting the spot next to him.

Nick smiled and laid down next to Jeff, reaching for his hand almost absentmindly.

Jeff let him take his hand, squeezing it for a moment. "It's nice isn't it?" Jeff said after several beats of silence, just looking at the stars.

"It's great," Nick said, sighing, leaning his head against Jeff's shoulder. "Thanks for taking me here, Jeffy. I needed it."

"You're welcome, Nicky. You know I've got your back." Jeff said, laying his head against the top of Nick's. "Do you . . . do you want to talk about it?"

Nick was quiet for several minutes; Jeff had about decided to change the subject when Nick finally spoke. "I laid my phone down on the kitchen counter. It was a stupid mistake that I normally never would have made, but Rebecca was asking me to help her cook dinner, and I got distracted. Thad texted me, and after they saw what he sent . . ."

Jeff waited until he was sure Nick couldn't speak before speaking. "What did it say?"

Nick shifted around uncomfortably for a moment, "Nothing, really."

Jeff moved away slightly so he could look at Nick. "Nick, your parents found out you were gay from that text message. It can't be 'nothing'."

Nick moved around again, avoiding Jeff's gaze. "Just . . . something about how I needed to go ahead and tell this guy how I feel . . ."

Jeff felt his heart practically break in half at Nick's words. It was a good thing that Jeff was a master at hiding how he truly felt. "Awww . . . does little Nicky have a crush?"

Nick's face turned bright red. "I don't wanna talk about it." Nick said, sitting up and turning away from Jeff.

Jeff bit his lip and sat up next to Nick. "I'm sorry Nicky. Not the best time to tease you I guess." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, I . . . you teasing me is kind of normal. It's what I need right now." Nick said, finally meeting Jeff's gaze again with a small smile.

"Well, in that case, your hair's a mess." Jeff joked.

Nick glared up at him, "Ha, ha, ha, Jeffy."

"Ah, you know I'm kidding, Nicky," Jeff said, standing up and brushing himself off.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jeff reached into his pocket and pulled out his iPhone. "I'm helping you with my normalcy at being abnormal." Jeff said with a grin, scrolling through his phone until he found the song he wanted. "C'mon, Nicky, dance with me," Jeff said, holding out his hand for Nick to take.

Nick looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack," Jeff replied simply, still holding his hand out.

Nick shook his head but continued to smile. "You're insane."

"But you _love_ me." Jeff said in a sing-song voice.

Nick rolled his eyes, but took Jeff's hand.

Jeff smiled brightly as he pressed play, and sat his phone on the ground while "Honestly" by Hot Chelle Rae began to play.

Nick and Jeff held hands as the danced around the blanket and sang along to the song loudly like idiots, but neither one of them really cared. "Thanks, Jeff," Nick said breathlessly as the song pulled to a close.

"No problem, Nicky," Jeff said, just as breathless.

Nick breathed in deep as the song changed to "Lover is Childlike" by the Low Anthem came on, and Nick grinned widely at Jeff. "You _did _put the Hunger Games soundtrack on your phone!"

Jeff blushed scarlet, "fine. Maybe I realized it wasn't so bad." Jeff said, sitting down on the ground again.

"Hey, who said we were done Mister?" Nick said, holding his hand back out.

Jeff raised his eyebrows. "This is a slow song, Nick."

"You're acting like we've never slow danced before." Nick replied.

Jeff blushed slightly, "Yeah, as a dare."

"Please, Jeffy?" Nick said, pouting slightly.

Jeff smiled, secretly pleased as he took Nick's hand. Jeff wrapped one arm around Nick's waist as he held his other hand tightly in Nick's, while Nick rested his hand on Jeff's shoulder. After a few moments of slow dancing, Nick laid his head on Jeff's shoulder, causing Jeff's arm around him to tighten. After a moment's hesitation, Jeff whispered, "This is nice," so quietly he half hoped Nick couldn't hear him.

Nick looked up at Jeff's words. "What?"

"Nothing," Jeff murmured quickly.

"What did you say?" Nick asked, still keeping the casual tone to his voice.

"Nothing," Jeff repeated, a little more firmly this time.

"Jeff, we tell each other everything." Nick said, backing away slightly.

"Well then why won't you tell me what that text message said?" Jeff asked, trying to turn the subject around.

Nick bit his lip. Jeff had a point. Nick glanced down, avoiding Jeff's gaze and mumbled something.

"What?" Jeff said, raising his eyebrow.

"It said, 'when are you going to tell Jeff'." Nick said finally, still not looking at Jeff, kicking a rock on the ground.

"Wait . . . what?" Jeff asked, confused.

Nick sighed and repeated himself. "It said; when are you going to tell Jeff?'" Nick repeated.

Jeff was even more confused now. "Tell me what?" Jeff asked.

Nick could feel all the heat rushing to his face. He didn't want to do this now. He wanted to wait until he wasn't feeling like crap; when he could make it romantic and sweet and something he would never forget and everything that Jeff deserved it to be. "Jeff, I didn't want you to find out like this," Nick said, burying his face in his hands, collapsing on the ground on top of the blanket.

He felt Jeff sit down next to him, but didn't look at him. "Nicky . . . you're scaring me."

"I was going to try and make it perfect, and romantic, and not on a sucky night like tonight -"

"Nick!" Jeff grabbed his face, forcing him to look at him. "Tell me what's going on." Jeff said fiercely.

Nick bit his lip, staring deeply into Jeff's eyes, getting lost in them. He loved the way Jeff looked at him, and he also loved how the way Jeff looking at him made him feel. Jeff looked at him like he was the only person in the room, no matter where they were. He felt like there could be a bomb going off behind them, and Jeff wouldn't care because Nick was speaking to him. Not to mention how beautiful the chocolate shade of his brown eyes were.

"Nick?" Jeff said again, bringing his attention back to him.

Nick pushed all of his feelings to the side, and before he could really think about it, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against his best friend's.

Jeff made a noise of startlement, surprised by his friend's sudden kiss, but quickly gave in; reaching up to tug his hands through Nick's hair, and pull him gently closer.

Nick was just as startled by his own actions, but as soon as he felt those soft lips pressing against his own, Nick's worries vanished away. Kissing Jeff was better than he had imagined it would be, so much better.

Eventually though, much to the displeasure of both boys, they needed to breathe, and Nick pulled away slowly, a big grin brightening up his face as he looked at Jeff. "He wanted me to tell you how crazy I am for my best friend."

Jeff returned his smile. "Well, I guess you're lucky I'm crazy about you too."

And for the first time that night, Nick actually did feel lucky.


End file.
